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Health concerns

 

Help!

I live in a 4 plex building and my hallway and apartment smell musty and moldy. How can I get it to not smell like that any more , at least my inside of my apartment . We have water -heat and I am not sure where the smell is coming from. I wanting to know if theres a way to get rid of it or not? I have a 10 year old who has allergies, and I am pregnant . Will this harm us?

Concerned MOM.

Kimberly Huckins
- Hebron, Indiana

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Musty, mildewy smells come form mold. Mold grows in areas that are, or have been damp, usually carpets. Mold is an allergan, so your 10 year old may be affected by this, but it is unlikely that it will affect your health or your pregnancy. Your first step is to see if there are any leaks, drips, cracked windows or any other way that moisture is getting into your building. Those need to be repaired asap. Mold can be killed by bleach ⇦ bleach/sodium hypochlorite in bulk on eBay or Amazon [affil links] , by ozone, and by disinfectants such as Lysol. Once a carpet has gotten moldy, however, there is no easy way to clean the musty smell out of it, even if you kill the mold. Your best bet is to see if your landlord will replace the carpets and paint the walls. The next best alternative is having the carpets dry cleaned. Look in the yellow pages for carpet, see if the carpet cleaners will do the hallway also. Then damp wash the walls with a water/bleach mixture. The last resort is to Lysol spray the hallway carpets and walls completely. Do this on a nice day when you can leave the doors open, buy two or three large cans of Lysol aerosol spray and let those carpets have it. Try doing the same in your apartment, one room at a time, after moving the furniture out. Let the carpet dry before returning the furniture. Since mold only thrives in moist environments, you might want to look into getting a dehumidifier, as well. If none of this works, you may need to think about moving.

Hope this helps,

Bob Zonis
- Bohemia, New York